The UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, amid rising tensions in the occupied West Bank and while the relentless fighting in the Gaza Strip continues to exact a terrible toll on civilians. A senior UN official warned of the risk of a spillover of the conflict with “devastating consequences” for the entire region.
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11:52 PM
Gilad Menashe Erdan, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Israel to UN, questioned why an “urgent briefing” of the Security Council is not called when Israeli civilians and civilian sites are attacked.
“Do these attacks sound like a mere spillover, is this violence occurring magically on its own. Is it not clear genocidal terrorists are seeking to murder Israeli citizens every single day,” he said.
“This Council is quick to show solidarity with civilians across the Middle East so long as they are not Israelis,” he added, asking why the Security Council is silent when innocent Israeli civilians are targeted.
“Why have you not condemned the rocket fire from Lebanon, Syria and Yemen,” he said, warning that the situation in northern Israel is “reaching the point of no return.”
“Every day, innocent Israelis are under attack. If these attacks persist, Israel will ensure that these acts of terror stop,” Ambassador Erdan said, reiterating that if the attacks continue, “the situation will escalate will escalate and may lead to a full scale war.”
11:35 AM
Majed Bamya, Deputy Permanent Observer of the Observer State of Palestine addressed the Security Council, stating that the killing of Palestinian civilians is “not a collateral effect” of war.
“This Israeli assault relies, by design, on mass and indiscriminate killing of civilians. The humanitarian catastrophe is not the consequence of the war, it is a tool employed by Israel to pressure people and force them out,” he said.
He went on to note that the Council has called for the protection of civilians and for immediate, safe, unhindered and expanded humanitarian access to deliver assistance throughout the Gaza Strip, for respect for the laws of laws, and that it has rejected forced displacement.
“All of which require an immediate ceasefire that this Council has been prevented to call for, repeatedly,” he said, noting that Israeli has reacted with “disregard and disdain.”
“Why are they getting away with murder at this unprecedented scale,” he said, adding “because they were never held accountable.”
“That is why they confess to their crimes, that is why steal our lives, our land, our resources, our money, our past, our present and our future in broad daylight,” he said.
11:28 AM
All parties showing ‘reckless disregard’: Norwegian Refugee Council
Itay Epshtain, Senior Advisor at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), informed Council members of the legal observations that underpin the NRC’s response to the humanitarian crisis.
“Some capture serious violations that have been perpetrated and continue to occur, others relate to premeditated atrocities that should be prevented by this august Council,” he said, noting that all parties – Palestinians armed groups and Israel – have shown reckless disregard for the norms of international law, including the basic rules of international humanitarian law, “the very rules they must comply with in all circumstances, breached.”
He emphasized that the NRC has condemned the atrocious violence launched by Hamas against Israeli civilians and continues to call for the immediate release of all hostages. It also calls for humane treatment of Palestinians detainees, in keeping with international law.
“The same legal certainty must also mean a halt to the Israeli offensive from which ordinary Gazans have no refuge before it claims the lives of even more civilians, many of them women and children,” he said.
11:08 AM
Risk of spillover ‘remains high’: UN official
Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East at UN DPPA, informed Council members that the situation in the Middle East is alarming and continues to deteriorate, including “several interconnected theatres conflict”.
He noted “intense” Israeli ground operations and fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas and other groups in most areas of Gaza, as Hamas and other Palestinian factions continue to fire rockets from Gaza into Israel.
“Civilians from both sides, particularly in Gaza strip currently, continue to bear the brunt of this conflict,” he said.
Reiterating the Secretary-General’s call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, Mr. Khiari warned that the risk of regional spillover of this conflict with potential devastating consequences for the entire region “remains high” given also a multitude of actors involved.
He informed Council members of “continued daily exchanges” of fire across the Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel, posing a “grave risk” to regional stability.
“Increasingly, there have been strikes on civilian areas, with civilian casualties, on both sides of the Blue Line, in addition to a rising number of fatalities among combatants,” he added.
Mr. Khiari also noted attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria, with the US conducting some airstrikes against groups suspected of these actions in Iraq and Syria. He also cited reports of Israeli air strikes inside Syria, as well as tensions in the Red Sea.
11:05 AM
Meeting called to order
José Javier De La Gasca, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Ecuador, which holds the Presidency of the Security Council for December, called the meeting to order.
Israel has been invited to the meeting, as has the been the Observer State of Palestine.
Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs; Marwan Muasher, Vice President for studies at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan; and Itay Epshtain, Norwegian Refugee Council Special Advisor and Senior Humanitarian Law and Policy Consultant will brief the meeting.
10:35 AM
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a non-permanent member called for the urgent meeting, and a senior UN official from the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) is expected to brief ambassadors.
The meeting follows a resolution adopted last week by the Security Council calling for a scale-up in aid deliveries to civilians in the Gaza Strip. The resolution passed with 13 votes in favour, and the US and Russia abstaining.
Tensions in occupied West Bank
Earlier this month, Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process, voiced “deep concerns” over escalating tensions in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Briefing the Security Council on 19 December, he noted “intensified armed exchanges” between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, predominantly in the context of Israeli operations, which led to exceedingly high levels of fatalities and arrests.
Mr. Wennesland also expressed alarm at lethal attacks carried out by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and by Palestinians against Israelis in the occupied West Bank and Israel.
“All perpetrators of violence must be held accountable and swiftly brought to justice,” he stressed.
Humanitarian situation in Gaza
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in the enclave remains dire.
Earlier today, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) cited reports from Gazan health authorities that half of all the pregnant women seeking safety in shelters suffer from thirst, malnutrition and a lack of healthcare. There is a lack of vaccinations for newborns and one in every two displaced children faces dehydration, malnutrition and disease.
Some 1.9 million Gazans, or 85 per cent of the enclave’s population, have been internally displaced since the start of Israel’s retaliation following Hamas’ deadly terror attacks in southern Israel on 7 October
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/12/1145182
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